A Theoretical Novelty
by Lady Eowyn of Ithilien
Summary: Orphaned and penniless at sixteen, Riza Hawkeye finds her future closely intertwined with that of her father's apprentice, Roy Mustang.
1. Chapter 1

**A Theoretical Novelty**

A move in the opening of chess that has not been played before.

Summary: Orphaned and penniless at sixteen, Riza Hawkeye finds her future closely intertwined with that of her father's apprentice, Roy Mustang.

 **Chapter One**

Her father's headstone was white and austere, a fitting monument to a stern and unforgiving man. She felt numb; she wasn't sure if it was from shock, from apathy, or from the biting December cold. Staring at the words etched into the headstone, she apologized, "I'm sorry, Mister Mustang, for having to rely on you to help me with the arrangements for my father's funeral."

"It was nothing. He was my mentor; I would do anything for him." His deep voice warmed some of the icy tension in her chest. "Do you have any other family?"

She shook her head, staring down at the headstone. While he lived, her father had been silent as the grave about his or her mother's families. She doubted his headstone would yield any new information. "My mother died a long time ago," she explained. "Both my mother and father were estranged from their families. They never told me anything about my relatives."

"All right," he said, reaching into his pocket. She looked up at him as he handed her his card. His dark eyes softened as he looked at her, "But if you ever need any help – anything at all – don't hesitate to contact me at Military HQ. I'll most likely stay in the military for the rest of my life."

She accepted the card scanning it curiously. The Green Dragon of Amestris took up most of the left side of the card with the words Amestris State Military occupying two lines underneath the symbol. The right side of the card contained four lines of text with Mister Mustang's name and rank as well as an address and phone number in East City.

"For the rest of your life?" she wondered.

At his noise of agreement, she glanced up at him worriedly.

"Please don't get killed!" she exclaimed.

He paled, muttering something under his breath that sounded like Don't jinx me. When he spoke again, his dark eyes held a pensive far away look. "I can't promise that. In this profession you never know when you'll wind up dead in a ditch somewhere like a piece of garbage. But if I can help strengthen the foundation of this country and protect its people with my hands that would make me happy."

She gazed up at him feeling the icy tension in her chest continue to unravel at his kindhearted honesty.

"That's the reason I studied alchemy," he continued. "But in the end my master didn't teach me his secrets." Mister Mustang rubbed a hand behind his head and looked at her askance with an embarrassed expression. "Sorry, I must be boring you with my naïve dreams."

"Not at all," she replied with a smile. "I think it's a wonderful dream. My father didn't take his secrets to the grave. He told me that he hid them in a code that's indecipherable to the average alchemist."

Mister Mustang's eyes widened as he turned to her. "So the master wrote his secrets down after all."

She averted her eyes from his hopeful gaze and looked down at her father's headstone. When her father had come to her last year with his request, she'd been honored to be chosen to safeguard his legacy. She saw now that she'd been naïve. Her father had only ever seen her as a child, a housekeeper, a nursemaid, and finally a piece of parchment. She couldn't even see the tattoo mottling her back in black and red ink with her own eyes. Her father no doubt didn't believe her worthy of seeing his secrets, his life's work. She could only see a reflection in the mirror.

"No," she replied finally. "Not on paper anyway. He said that he couldn't risk the destruction of his life's work or have it fall into the wrong hands."

"So how did he record his legacy?" Mister Mustang wondered.

"Mister Mustang. That dream, can I trust you with my back so that I can help make it come true?"

xxx

Her fingers were clumsy on the round buttons of her blouse. She could hear Mister Mustang's sharp inhale of breath as the blouse slid off her shoulders so the flame alchemy cipher tattooed into her back could be revealed. As the blouse pooled at her feet, she unsnapped her brassiere and let it fall to the floor. She held her trembling arms in front of her bare breasts to give herself some little pretense of modesty. Her cheeks burned with shame as she stood topless in front of Mister Mustang, her father's apprentice.

She'd thought him impossibly handsome and mature when he showed up at the house all those years ago to be her father's apprentice. He'd been a worldly fourteen-year-old boy with clever dark eyes and a confident smile. She'd been a shy and tomboyish ten-year-old girl. Over the three years that he'd studied under her father Mister Mustang had only grown more handsome and self-assured. She'd been a gangly thirteen-year-old when he left to join the Military Academy.

She heard the floorboards creak behind her as he stepped closer. She heard a rustling of fabric and glanced over her shoulder as he held out his coat for her. Covering her breasts with one arm, she took his coat in shaking hands and clutched it to her chest.

"Riza," the sound of her name on his lips made her shiver. He rasped out, "When did your father…"

She was proud she was able to keep her voice steady. "This time last year."

"How could he…"

She averted her eyes to the ground. "It's ugly, but I'm no great beauty, so…"

Mister Mustang interrupted her decisively, "Riza, you've grown into a beautiful woman regardless of the alchemic cipher on your back."

Riza's cheeks burned as she glanced back to see him studying her intently. She felt like a lovesick thirteen-year-old girl again. Clearing her throat, she changed the subject to hide her embarrassment. "Can you decipher it, Mister Mustang?"

"Call me Roy," was his answer.

"Roy," she tried. His name felt foreign on her tongue.

He didn't touch her, but she could still feel the intensity of his gaze burning into her skin. "It's extremely complex, so it'll take awhile. If I copied it down on paper you wouldn't have to…"

She shook her head. "My father didn't want this transcribed on paper. You'll have to learn his secrets from my back."

xxx

The next three days passed quickly as they fell into a routine. Mister Mustang, who had become an early riser because of his military training, would go out on a run before the sun had risen. By the time he returned, Riza would have breakfast and coffee ready. The rest of the days were spent studying the tattoo.

Her father's study was the designated location for this particular task. They'd carried the green velvet settee from the front parlor for her to stretch out on while Roy decoded the tattoo on her back.

The December chill seemed to permeate every room in her father's drafty old house. Roy kept a fire going in the hearth of her father's study so that they would be comfortable while he worked to decode the cipher on her back. Setting the fire in the health had even become part of their daily routine. After she'd told Roy how she'd seen her father light the logs using flame alchemy with the candle on his desk as the catalyst, Roy had been eager to try it out himself. Thus far, it'd been an exercise in futility after which Roy resorted to tossing a match onto the kindling under the stacked logs.

Roy stood with his back to her, glaring at the fire burning merrily in the hearth like it had personally offended him. Riza grinned over at him as she pulled her cream colored knit sweater over her head.

"Don't be discouraged," she said blithely as she tugged the sleeves back up to her shoulders to cover her chest to help preserve her modesty. "It took my father ten years to develop flame alchemy. You can't expect to learn it overnight.

Roy ran his hands through his hair. "This is impossible. It's not flame alchemy; it's air alchemy. The flame is only the catalyst of the reaction. The important part is controlling the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air to feed or smoother the flame."

"It'll take time and practice, like anything else," Riza said as she walked over to the settee in the middle of the room. She tiptoed around the towering pile of alchemy, chemistry, and physics textbooks that Roy had spread out around the couch. "Well I'm ready when you're ready."

Roy put his hands on his hips and stared at the fire. "I think I'm going to put the candle in the fireplace tomorrow. I think it's just too advanced of a maneuver for me to control the path of the flame all the way from the desk to the fireplace. Or maybe the problem is with my transmutation circle."

Riza stretched out on her belly on the settee and opened her book, absentmindedly moving the ancient Aerugian to Amestrian dictionary within reach. The green velvet felt luxurious against the bare skin of her stomach. The soft wool of her sweater was warm against her shoulders and arms and bare breasts. Sunlight spilled into the room, illuminating the cover of Valerius's poems that she'd brought to pass the time.

Roy chuckled as he walked over to the settee. "You look like a sunbather on the beaches of Aerugo, basking topless in a warm patch of sun."

Riza tried to hide her blush, quipping, "Aerugian women sunbathe topless?"

Roy shrugged as he sat down in front of her. Resting his elbow on his knee, he gazed up at her with a crooked smile. "So I've heard."

The next hours passed at a slow crawl. She had trouble concentrating on reading her book of poems – the fact they were in ancient Aerugian certainly didn't help matters. Roy's breath on her skin as he studied the words inked on her left shoulder blade or his fingers tracing over the symbols on the small of her back drove her to distraction.

She turned the page to her favorite poem. She practically knew it by heart, so it was very easy to translate.

"Let us live, my Clodia, let us love,

and all the words of the old, and so moral,

may they be worth less than nothing to us!

Suns may set, and suns may rise again:

but when our brief light has set,

night is one long everlasting sleep.

Give me a thousand kisses, a hundred more,

another thousand, and another hundred,

and, when we've counted up the many thousands,

confuse them so as not to know them all,

so that no enemy may cast an evil eye,

by knowing that there were so many kisses.

"Riza," came Roy's voice by her hip.

Blushing, she turned to look at him.

He put his elbow on the settee and rested his head on his hand. His eyes were impossibly dark as he looked up at her. She blushed and tried to ignore how his eyes flickered to her lips before moving back to her eyes. Licking his lips, he said huskily, "Your skirt is hiding the bottom of the tattoo. May I…"

"Yes," she whispered.

His hands on her skin burned like a brand as he smoothed them from her waist down to the zipper at the small of her back. The sound of the zipper was impossibly loud in the room; the only other sound was the gentle crackling of the fire in the hearth and the soft sound of their breaths.

Riza could feel her heart pounding in her ears as he folded back the top of her skirt to better study the tattoo. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. She wouldn't let him know how much he affected her.

xxx

During Roy Mustang's stay at her father's house, the library became her refuge. When she became too overcome by the interest flickering in his dark eyes, the seductive tone of his voice, or his fingers against the lines of her tattoo, she would disappear into the library. She would never interfere with his time studying her tattoo, but when they decided to take a long break in the afternoon or evening she would need a break from him as well. She needed to be alone to compose herself again.

Even in her dreams he haunted her. During the day, she lay before him on the settee with his breath on her shoulders and his fingers on her back as he studied the tattoo. In her dreams, she laid under him on the settee with his mouth moving over hers and his hands caressing every inch of her skin.

As soon as Roy was able to expertly practice her father's flame alchemy, he would be leaving again for East City. She was already too attached to him. If she let herself fall into Roy Mustang's dark eyes, broad chest, or muscular arms, she would lose herself. She'd been half in love with him since she was a girl. If she became further entangled with him the only thing that she could expect from him was heartbreak.

She was a boyish and reserved country girl. A man like him didn't fall in love with girl like her. A man like Roy Mustang would fall in love with a glamorous and vivacious city girl.

"Here you are. Dinner's almost ready if you're hungry."

She looked up at him from where she sat against one of the bookcases at the back of the library. She had a dense Drachman novel open in her lap.

"How many languages can you read?" Roy wondered as he looked down at the pages. "I've seen you reading ancient and modern Aerugian, Cretan, Xingese, and now Drachman. You're really impressive."

Riza shrugged as she creased the corner of the page and closed the book. "I enjoy languages," she explained, running her fingers over the worn cover with a small smile. "My mother studied comparative literature at the Scholar's Academy, where she received her teaching certificate. These are her books. She left little annotations and notes in the margins. When I read them, I feel closer to her. She was died when I was very young. I don't have many memories of her except for what I can imagine she was like from her books."

Roy leaned back against the bookshelf across from her with his hands in his pockets. He looked around the library and mused, "It's nice that you have something to remember her by. My parents died suddenly when I was very young child. I have keepsakes and pictures of them, but nothing that reflects their personalities like these books must for you mother."

Riza pulled her knees up to her chest and looked up at him. "The majority of the books are my father's: textbooks, treatises, studies on chemistry and physics and mathematics. I don't have much interest in those. Would you like them?"

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say that your father's solicitor wanted you to wait until he'd notified all of the interested parties before you started distributing or selling your father's belongings?"

She shrugged. "You're correct of course. However, the only other people that need to be notified are my father's creditors. Father left all of his assets - what little there is – to me. So the books are mine to do with as I wish. I'm planning to give some to the parish library and I'd like you to have his alchemy texts."

Roy's eyes widened. "Your father had an impressive collection, there's even some first editions among his texts. You could make a fortune selling your father's alchemy texts to the state military. That could help you settle his debts."

Riza laughed out loud. "Father would roll over in his grave! I'm certain he'd come haunt me if I did something like that. It's bad enough that I've shared the secrets of his most dangerous alchemy to a soon to be dog of the military."

Roy snorted. "That assumes that I'll pass the state alchemy exam. There's a slim chance of that. The youngest man to ever pass the state alchemy exam was thirty-two. I doubt the top brass will even consider passing a twenty year old kid fresh out of the military academy."

"Then you'll just have to be so impressive that they can't say no," she grinned.

"Easier said than done."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

She stacked up the logs and placed the kindling underneath in the living room hearth. Pulling the woolen blanket tighter around herself, she climbed back into the high back chair closest to the fireplace. Roy sat cross-legged on the couch on the other side of the living room.

This had become their nightly ritual. Over the past three weeks, the candle that Roy used to start the alchemic reaction moved farther and farther away from the fireplace. During the first week it burned safely within the fireplace. After three days of successfully lighting the logs using flame alchemy, Roy had felt comfortable moving the candle outside of the fireplace during the second week. Now he had become bold. The candle rested by his elbow on the end table next to the couch on the other side of the room where Roy sat.

"Okay, here goes," Roy muttered to himself as he put his hand to the alchemic array that he'd chalked onto the end table at his side.

There was a loud snap as the candle flickered and a spark danced across the room and into the fireplace. The ensuing flames consumed all the kindling. The logs were caught up quickly in the conflagration. One of the dry logs let out a loud crack and part of it rolled out of the fireplace and onto the living room floor in front of the chair where she sat huddled under a blanket. She only had a second to gasp out in surprise before the entire fire was suddenly snuffed out.

"Damn it," he cursed.

Riza pulled her knees up to her chest as she shivered under her blanket from where she sat on the chair closest to the fireplace. "Why did you smother the entire fire?" she wondered. "You seemed to have better control over the flames during the last couple nights."

Roy groaned as he rose from the couch. He kicked the log that had fallen in front of her chair back into the fireplace. As he stacked fresh logs, fresh kindling, and set up another small candle, he replied, "When that log rolled out by your chair, I panicked and smothered everything."

Riza spoke over her chattering teeth. "Then you need to better hone your focus, Roy. You shouldn't let something like that distract you."

His dark eyes softened as he glanced over at her. "You're shivering. We can try this again tomorrow. I can light it the old fashioned way rather than using these fancy alchemic pyrotechnics. They generate more light than heat."

She shook her head stubbornly. "I'm fine, Roy. You're too close to stop now. You have to head back to East City the day after tomorrow."

As he sat down on the couch, he suggested. "Sit with me. You'll be farther from the fireplace, but we can huddle together for warmth instead."

He made the same requests on most evenings; however, this was the first evening when she'd actually been in danger from a falling log. Maybe he had a point. She huffed before dropping her feet onto the floor and standing up. She dragged the chair farther away from the fireplace and walked over to the couch where he sat.

He shifted back against the couch and she let him pull her into his lap. His chest was warm against her back and her head rested comfortably against his shoulder. His muscular arms were a comfortable weight around her waist and his thighs were her armrest.

She shivered as he rested his chin against the top of her head and let out a contented sigh. "I feel better practicing this if I know you're safe here with me."

He moved his left hand to the alchemic array chalked into the table next to them again and Riza felt the familiar heady cracking of an alchemic reaction before a loud snap filled the air and the flame at the tip of the candle danced and twirled around the kindling. After the kindling caught, it blossomed into a sustained flame under the stacked logs. The fire danced and twirled around the logs.

Riza gasped as before her eyes the flames took the shape of a miniature dragon and flew out of the fireplace to soar above them. The dragon grew in size as it flew out of the fireplace. It circled in the air above them and exhaled flames from its mouth. The dragon's breath formed into a phoenix. After circling the living room above them one last time, the dragon and phoenix fizzled out like fireworks.

The logs in the fireplace crackled peacefully as Roy ended the transmutation. As Riza looked up at him in wonder, she was surprised to see him staring down at her rather than at the fireplace. His dark eyes smoldered as he shifted her in his arms and captured her lips in a kiss. She gasped out in surprise and he took that opportunity to deepen the kiss.

One of his hands rested gently at the nape of her neck as he tilted her head back slightly so that he could reposition them into a more comfortable position. She moaned as his tongue darted into her mouth tangling with hers. She wasn't sure what she was doing, but Roy didn't seem to mind her inexperience.

"I've wanted to do this for weeks," Roy breathed between kisses.

Tangling her hands in his dark hair, she lost herself in the taste of his lips and the warmth of his body against hers. She was completely consumed by the inferno of his passion. He tugged her sweater over her head and made quick work of her brassiere as he shifted her onto her back beneath him.

He looked down at her with a ravenousness gaze. "You're so beautiful."

She moaned out wantonly as his hand palmed and caressed one breast as his mouth worshiped the other. She tugged off his shirt, running her hands over the muscles of his chest and reveling in the weight of his body covering hers and the feeling of his bare skin against hers.

"Riza, tell me if I'm going to fast," Roy murmured as he kissed his way from her belly to her lips.

"Don't stop," she moaned.

She couldn't remember removing her tights, but the feel of his warm hands on the bare skin of her inner thighs brought his name to her lips. She knew that she was being reckless, but she couldn't stop herself. His touches and kisses burned her from the inside out. She was strung taut like a bow.

She could feel him hard against her leg. When she touched him over his pants curiously he let out a low groan. He pulled her hands away from him and sat up, running a hand through his mused up hair.

"Riza." His voice was husky and his chest rose and fell like he'd just run a marathon. He ran a hand through his already mused up hair again. "Is this okay? How far do you want to go?"

She made up her mind quickly as she gazed up at him. She was being reckless, but she knew that if she'd didn't do this she would regret it forever. He would never be hers, but at least she could have one night of passion to sustain her in the future lonely nights. "Roy, I want you. I want all of you."

His searched her eyes. "Have you ever done this before?" His eyes widened as she shook her head. "You're a virgin?"

She bit her lip. "Is that okay?"

His eyes smoldered as he captured her lips in a breathless kiss. "Yes, of course. It's better than okay."

xxx

She woke up alone in Roy's bed. The sun coming in through the windows informed her of the lateness of the hour. She stretched and climbed out of bed, feeling sore between her legs. Muscle groups that she wasn't aware existed before last night ached in protest.

It was quiet in the house.

Where was Roy? The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in his arms in the early hours of the morning after a long night of passion.

An unpleasant thought nagged her as she ran a bath. Had he returned to East City a day early now that he'd gotten what he came here for: he'd learned his master's flame alchemy and debauched his master's daughter. Had he fled before she could try to trap him into an ill-advised relationship?

She slipped into the water with a sigh and tried not to dwell of Roy's absence. Roy had been gentle when he'd taken her virginity, but there was a still a lingering soreness between her legs. She rested her head back against the warm porcelain of the tub and closed her eyes.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she heard the sound of the front door opening to the house opening and Roy arguing with another man outside. The water was still warm, so it couldn't have been too long. She heard two pairs of footsteps making their way towards the library and a third taking the stairs upstairs two at a time.

The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom. There was a rap of knuckles against the door before Roy's voice called, "Riza, are you in here?"

"I'm taking a bath," she called back.

Roy seemed to take it an invitation, which wasn't really what she'd intended. At least he closed the door behind himself to keep the warm air inside. He leaned back against the doorway with a smirk. "Well this is a pretty picture."

She rolled her eyes at him as he leered at her. "It's nearly one in the afternoon. I must have really tired you out last night," he continued.

She snorted.

His smirk softened into a gentle smile and she felt her heart skip a beat. "How are you feeling?"

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, stretching her arms along the sides of the tub. "I feel fine." She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "I heard voices. What's going on? Who's downstairs?"

He raised an eyebrow. "It's Monday, the 22nd."

She crossed her arms over her breasts as she realized the significance of that particular day. "Of course. Pastor Schafer and his son Peter are here to pick up the books for the parish library. I didn't realize it was already the 22nd."

He nodded. "Can you come downstairs when you finish up in here? Pastor Schafer and Peter want to see you. They were concerned when you didn't come to meet them downstairs. I had to talk Peter down from trying to search the house to make sure that you were all right."

Riza's eyes widened. It would have been disastrous if she had been discovered naked in Roy's bed by Pastor Schafer or his son. "I'll get out now."

Roy grabbed her towel from where she'd tossed it on the bench by the tub. She blushed as he opened it and held it out for her. "Roy," Riza hissed. "Get out of here and make sure they stay downstairs!"

Roy raised an eyebrow and indicated the towel with a gesture of his head. "Not until you get out of the tub."

She shook her head at him and she stood up from the bath. Roy's dark eyes gazed at her naked body hungrily before wrapping the towel around her and lifting her out of the bath. He pulled her flush against him and gave her a quick but passionate kiss.

She put a hand to her lips as he pulled away and put her back onto her feet. "Get dressed. I'll stall them," he winked at her.

She watched him hurry down the stairs before she went into her bedroom and opened her wardrobe to look for something to wear. She pulled on a dress made of gray wool before sitting on the edge of her bed and pulling on a pair of tights underneath. After tying the laces of her boots, she ran a hand through the damp ends of her hair and leaned over to look at her reflection in the mirror of her vanity. Her lips were a red and swollen from kissing, but otherwise, she didn't look any different.

She saw Pastor Schafer walking out the door as she crossed to the stop of stairs. She hurried outside after him. The pastor was a kind man several years older than her father had been. His once blonde hair had turned prematurely white, giving him a more distinguished appearance.

"Pastor Schafer," she called as she walked out the front door. She wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered in the cold. She'd been in such a hurry that she'd forgotten to pull on her coat.

He turned towards her with a smile as he closed the door to their truck. "There you are, Miss Hawkeye. I was worried when you didn't show up at the front door. Peter wanted us to seek you out in the house to make sure you were all right, but Mister Mustang was kind enough to ask for us to give you some privacy during this time of morning. Luckily he was able to help us with the books. Thank you for thinking of the Esocer parish. It was very generous of you to think of others during your times of trial."

She nodded to him with a small smile. "What need do I have of a library full of books?"

Pastor Schafer rested a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. "Always I've always admired that about you, Miss Hawkeye. Even as a child, you were always so practical. You've always had your feet firmly on the ground, not like my twins. Their heads always seems to be in the clouds."

Riza chuckled. "That's true. Peter and Magdalena are dreamers at heart."

Paster Schafer put his hands on his hips. "Well that's the last of the books for the parish library. I'll get the truck started. Can you let Peter know that we're ready to leave?"

"Will do."

Pastor Schafer looked at her carefully with his kind blue eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss, Miss Hawkeye. If there is anything that my family can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you," Riza whispered.

Riza rubbed her hands down her arms as she walked back inside to warm herself up. When she entered the library, she found Roy talking with Peter Schafer, the pastor's son. Well talking was probably too polite of a word to use. It would have been more appropriate to say that Roy and Peter were snapping or maybe snarling at one another. Riza ran a hand through her hair as she lingered in the hallway, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.

Roy and Peter had always gotten along like oil and water from as early back as Roy's first month as her father's apprentice. They couldn't be more different. Roy was dark haired and dark eyed. He was a smooth talker and a flirt who followed no faith except the laws of alchemy. Peter was blonde haired and blue eyed. He was a kindhearted and serious man who followed his father's religion with devout fervor. Riza had always gotten along well with Peter and considered him to be a good friend. Roy thought Peter was a judgmental asshole.

"Why are you still sniffing around here, military dog? You had better keep your sinful hands away from Miss Hawkeye!"

"What if Riza doesn't want to keep her hands away from me?" Roy drawled.

"Mister Mustang," Riza gasped at Roy in surprise.

"You're a reprobate and a scoundrel," Peter continued. "You should return to Central where you belong."

"Mister Schafer," Riza chastised. "That is unkind. I'm greatly indebted to Mister Mustang for helping to arrange my father's funeral."

Peter Schafer glared over at Roy. "Miss Hawkeye, I wish that you had come to myself or my father during your time of need. I doubt Mister Mustang assisted you out of the kindness of his heart. It makes me sick imagining the payment a man like him would ask from a vulnerable, and beautiful girl like you."

Riza looked at Peter in surprise at his candor. She wasn't sure if she was flattered or insulted by his description of her. She was vulnerable in some ways, she supposed. She didn't have any money or family members to fall back on, but she had other things. She was a crack shot with a rifle and she was well educated. She would never be called a great beauty, but her features were pleasing to the eye. What she considered more important were her keen mind, kind soul, and uncompromising spirit.

Roy snorted. "You have a perverse imagination for someone who claims to be so devout. Master Hawkeye was my mentor; it was the least that I could do to help his daughter with his funeral. Think of it as equivalent exchange. What would you have asked from Miss Hawkeye in exchange for helping with her father's funeral? Her hand in marriage?"

Riza stared in surprise at Peter. His cheeks burned red, avoiding her gaze.

Roy's voice was a dangerous purr as he continued, "That's what you would have asked for in exchange, and so you assumed that I asked for something less pure? Maybe Miss Hawkeye's virginity? Or maybe that wouldn't be enough for a reprobate and a scoundrel like myself? Maybe I asked for her to become my mistress in exchange for burying her father."

"You bastard!" Peter raged, charging Roy and tackling him to the ground.

They rolled around the floor of her father's library punching one another. Again feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, Riza walked over to them with a heavy sigh. Picking up two books from the pile of books that Roy would taking back to East City, she slammed them down over Roy's and Peter's heads.

"This is ridiculous," Riza snapped. "You're acting like children. Stop this at once. Mister Mustang has been a gentleman during his stay here."

If anything Peter Schafer's face turned even redder. "You don't need to cover for this villain, Miss Hawkeye. I saw Mister Mustang purchase pennyroyal at the apothecary this morning!"

Riza crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at Roy who paled in realization before she turned to the red faced Peter. "Mister Mustang's apothecary purchases are none of your business. You shame yourself by spreading such base rumors. Please remove yourself from my house. Your father is waiting for you outside."

"Miss Hawkeye," Peter protested.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Riza curled up on the seat in the large bay window of the front parlor and gazed outside. Pulling her knees to her chest, she rested her chin on her knees as she watched a cardinal flutter down to the branch of the elm tree in the front of the house. Its blood red breast stood out starkly against the muted whites and browns of the cold January afternoon.

"Here," said Roy's voice at her elbow.

She glanced over at him and took the proffered tea. She glanced down at it. "So this is pennyroyal tea? Who knew that it would cause such controversy?"

Roy sat down in the bay window next to her, sliding back against the opposite wall so their feet almost touch. "Madam Schwartz, the apothecary, was discrete about it this morning. There was only one other man at the store with his hood pulled up over face. I guess that was Peter Schafer."

She wrinkled her nose at the pungent mint scent of the tea. She sipped it with distaste. Roy had added honey, which helped to cut the too strong mint taste. It didn't make it easier to drink, but held her breath and forced the rest of it down.

She rested her chin back on her knees as she stared over at him. "Do you brew pennyroyal tea for all your lovers? The honey's a nice touch."

Roy blushed. "This is my first time brewing it. I've only had two lovers before you, and we used protection both times. I didn't think to bring condoms when I arrived here after Christmas. I learned how to brew the tea from my aunt."

"Madam Christmas?" Riza wondered. "I'd like to meet her someday."

Roy grinned over at her. "I'm sure you will. She owns a hostess club in Central City. I've seen her brew pennyroyal tea on occasion for the girls that work there. I thought that the apothecary might have some in stock."

She sighed and leaned back against the wall behind her as she looked out the window. "Well you saw me drink the stuff, so you won't need to worry about me getting pregnant."

"Right," he mused, looking her with an unfathomable expression. "Hungry?"

"A little," she nodded.

He continued his study of her face. She was starting to feel uncomfortable at the intensity of it. Standing up from her seat, she asked, "Have you eaten yet?"

He nodded. "I made myself some lunch before the Schafers showed up."

"Ah," she said, walking to the kitchen.

Roy rose from the bay window and followed her into the kitchen. She glanced up at him as she spread butter over a piece of bread before putting on thick slice of roasted venison. Her supply of venison was running low. She would have to go out hunting again soon. "What's wrong?"

"I leave for Central City tomorrow. I was able to get special permission from Lieutenant General Grumman to extend my holiday leave so I could take the state alchemy exam next week, but I can't delay it any longer. I need to spend a couple days in Central preparing my materials for the practical exam."

Riza rested a hand over his. "Roy, you're going to pass the exam and become the youngest state alchemist in history. You've mastered my father's flame alchemy. That dragon you made last night was the most advanced application of flame alchemy I've ever seen. I never saw my father show the same delicate control of fire that you did last night."

Roy's eyes widened at the compliment.

Riza brushed her bangs back from her eyes as she sliced a piece of cheese for her sandwich. Not looking up at him, she continued, "Have you figured out how you're going to start the reaction? Do you think that you could carve the transmutation circle into a lighter?"

"I was thinking about using pyrotex, ignition cloth," Roy replied. "I'll make gloves from it with the transmutation circle embroidered on the back. When I snap, it'll create a spark that I can use to start the exothermic reaction."

Riza took a bite of her sandwich and a raised eyebrow at him. "You sew?"

Roy winced. "Not exactly. I'll need to ask Madam Christmas or one of the girls at the bar to help me. I should learn if I become a state alchemist because I'll need spares."

Riza nodded, taking a last bite of her sandwich and put her hands back on the table. "That's surprising clever, Roy. If you start the reaction by snapping with those ignition gloves, everyone'll simply assume the loud snap is from the gloves rather than the exothermic reaction of the oxygen catching fire."

Roy put his hand over hers. His eyes burned with emotion she didn't understand. "Riza, come back to East City with me."

She looked at him in confusion. "Go to East City? What would I do there?"

His cheeks burned red. "You could be my wife."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Where'd this come from, Roy?"

He ran a hand through his hair and looked away. "I feel responsible for you."

Her heart plummeted into her stomach. That was the worst way he could have asked for her hand in marriage. She could feel tears stinging at the corner of her eyes. After last night, she'd hoped that… but it was clear to her now that he wasn't in love with her.

She wouldn't let him see her cry.

Biting her bottom lip, she pulled her hands out from under his. She took a deep breath before she said, "You don't need to feel responsible for me. I can take care of myself."

"Riza," he protested.

"I won't be anyone's burden," she continued, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're only asking because you think you owe it to my father to protect me and his research on my back. That's not a reason to marry someone, Roy."

He blinked at her in surprise. "I don't understand. Why is wrong for me to want to take care of you?"

"I'm not a child," she snapped. "I can take care of myself."

"You're sixteen!" Roy countered. "I'm doing what's best for you. You don't know how the world works. You've never even left Esocer!"

She glared at him in fury. "Do you expect me to be grateful? That you're asking me to your wife rather than your mistress? From what I've read in dime novels, mistresses are supposed to be expensive. Maybe you should've asked for that instead? Sounds like a better deal."

"You're being ridiculous," Roy protested.

She stalked to the front closet and pulled on her winter coat and grabbed her rifle from the wall. Roy's eyes widened and he held up his hands in surrender. "I don't need anyone to take care of me. I've been taking care of myself for ten years!"

She slammed the door on the way outside.

xxx

She spent the rest of the afternoon perched up in the blind shivering as she watched for a deer or a rabbit to pass into her sights. Resting the rifle in her lap, she leaned her head back against the wall of the blind and finally let the tears fall down her cheeks.

She'd been reckless. She shouldn't have let herself fall into Roy Mustang's arms and worse yet into his bed. He'd ruined her for any other man. She'd never be able to be with another man without thinking of Roy: of his lips on her skin, of him moving inside her, of the secrets of his alchemy tattooed into her back.

He didn't love her; a man like Roy Mustang wouldn't fall for a girl like her. He felt responsible for her, but that wasn't enough. She didn't want her husband to see her as a duty, as a sword to fall on. She wanted him to love her. She loved him too much to see him shackled into a marriage with a woman he didn't love.

She wanted him more than anything. It broke her heart to tell him no when he was offering her the only thing that she'd ever wanted. But this pain would pass. If she accepted his offer of marriage, it would hurt infinitely more when everything inevitably shattered. That would break her. She couldn't survive having everything before losing it all and worst of all discovering it all had only been an illusion.


End file.
